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The
measure passed by unanimous voice vote, after lawmakers agreed
on a compromise that eliminated differences between bills
introduced in the House and Senate.
The House last week passed its version of the bill, but that
measure failed to advance to the Senate. But the Senate is
expected to pass the compromise version as soon as Wednesday,
sending it to the White House, where President Joe Biden has
said he will sign it into law.
"The Administration will work closely with Congress to implement
this bill to ensure global supply chains are free of forced
labor, while simultaneously working to on-shore and third-shore
key supply chains, including semiconductors and clean energy,"
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have been
arguing over the Uyghur legislation for months.
The compromise keeps a provision creating a "rebuttable
presumption" that all goods from Xinjiang, where the Chinese
government has set up a network of detention camps for Uyghurs
and other Muslim groups, were made with forced labor, in order
to bar such imports.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang, which supplies much of the
world's materials for solar panels, but the U.S. government and
many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.
Republicans had accused Biden's Democrats of slow-walking the
legislation because it would complicate the president's
renewable energy agenda. Democrats denied that.
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Grant
McCool and Stephen Coates)
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